Here is your opportunity to join with Woodstock-Oxford Rotary to help provide necessary assistance to families, children and the homeless. Since our Fish Fry fundraiser was cancelled, we need your consideration.

Woodstock Rotarians need your help. In the past we have supported youth projects, such as scholarships and YMCA activities. During the past few months we have supplied a BBQ and food, each Saturday to the Community Free Table and items to the Circle of Friends table.

More recently, we have donated a total of $8000. locally for food vouchers, groceries and toiletries, going to those in need during these challenging times. ($4000 donations + $4000 Rotary match).

Please help us . . ."Fundraise For Food Vouchers"Rotary to Match Community Donations for Food Vouchers in Oxford*

Woodstock Rotarians have committed to help with Covid-19 challenges and are asking the community to join them. For each dollar donated, Rotary will match the amount, with proceeds going to purchase groceries and food vouchers, for families who require support at this time. You can donate online here: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/12109

“At first, we looked at having a central food donation area with grocery distribution available to those who needed assistance,” said Steve Zehr, Woodstock-Oxford Rotary President. “But as we investigated things, it seemed that this would not be wise with the isolation issues we are all facing.”

“After discussions with local service agencies, it seemed more logical to work with groups already established to help people,” he continued. “So, we are happy the United Way Oxford is helping us, since they are working with community partners to identify pressing and immediate community needs.”

Woodstock-Oxford Rotary has already distributed 50 bags of groceries door-to-door, to families with school-age children, needing support. Rotary has also donated two shipments of gloves to our local Woodstock Hospital. Likewise, the Woodstock Club has supported the Salvation Army and Food Bank programs.

We has a great meeting and presentation by local best selling author, Elaine Cougler with an interesting topic of Behind the Scenes Terry Fox Run.

She has a new book recently published outlining how Thamesford resident Ron Calhoun colaborated with Terry Fox and the Canadian Cancer Society to coordinate this great initiative.

Elaine Cougler is a local author who has a trilogy series of books on the Loyalists who in her 3rd novel brings in information researched of possible events within Oxford County. She will be speaking to us on her just completed latest book "The Man Behind the Terry Fox Legacy."

The Man Behind the Marathons:

How Ron Calhoun Helped Terry Fox and Other Heroes Make Millions for Charity.

For many years our Club coordinated and sponsored the Terry Fox Run in Oxford, so the subject matter was of particular interest. Elaine is an interesting presenter and her presentation was very interesting.

Entrepreneurs and Family Business members are invited to join us for this special meeting, featuring our own Doug Vincent. He is a well known and trusted advisor to Family Business Corporations. See more at TheFamilyBusinessAdvisor.com

Join us for this exciting presentation on Making a Difference for Youth in Oxford. Wednesday, September 19, 2018 at Oxford Gardens. Rotary dinner 6:15 pm ($20) then program. Please RSVP to: dougv@dougvincent.com or 519-537-3753

Madi Langdon is a 17 yr old, grade 12 student at St. Mary’s High school in Woodstock, as well as an aspiring actress who can been seen in the upcoming season of the hit tv series The Next Step!

Madi’s other passion is Making a Difference in the world, which she will speak about at our upcoming meeting. She has represented her school at youth leadership conferences and most recently was selected to attend the Me to We advanced leadership training in Tucson, Arizona.

She will share how this experience left her inspired and determined to make a change in the world. Madi looks forward to sharing her thoughts and experience with Woodstock-Oxford Rotary and guests, with the possibility of working with Rotary members and Oxford County Youth to make changes right here at home.

The youth in Oxford need our support so please join us to help extend a caring hand for their future.

This week, Wednesday, August 8th, we will listen to our members who attended the International Rotary Convention in Toronto this year. They will share pictures and their highlights of the Convention. So if you could not attend it will be interesting as well as when you are guest it will be great to be inspired by listening to these stories.

This week our own Doug Vincent will share his knowledge about Rotary with us. A fireside chat is especially done for new members and their family but everybody that wants to know more about Rotary is welcome to come out to the meeting.

This will be a very informal evening where you can learn what Rotary is all about.

Bill is a native of Woodstock and has a wealth of experience in theatre, television and play writing, in addition to his missionary career. He and his wife Karen were overseas personnel for the United Church of Canada from January 1998 to June 2011.

First posted to Angola, they were forced to leave because of civil war and spent most of their overseas time working for the Christian Council of Mozambique. They have also worked for United Church partners in Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, and Japan.

In Mozambique Bill was communications consultant and worked in a video studio with young people producing songs, music videos, documentaries, and television dramas to educate Mozambicans about issues such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, crime, and domestic violence. Much of his time also was devoted to flood and drought relief and rural development.

Before leaving for Africa, Bill lived in Woodstock, taught at Western University and wrote 5 local-history plays which were produced in Oxford County, about the Benwell/Birchall murder, Joe Boyle, Aimee Semple MacPherson, Cassie Chadwick, and the Woodstock YM/YWCA. Karen and Bill raised their 2 daughters in Woodstock. Bill was a charter member of our Woodstock-Oxford Rotary Club.

Work & Play - gotta love Woodstock-Oxford Rotary! Join us. All members are encouraged to raise funds for this evening. If you would like to support our team please contact Edwin Van Weerdhuizen: edwinvw@gmail.com

Entertaining and informing.... Tim gives a brief history of electric cars and answers some of the most frequently asked electric car questions about ‘where to charge’, ‘how long it takes to charge’, ‘how far you can expect to go on a charge’ etc. He also predicts that in the near future, cars that drive themselves will significantly reduce death and injury on our roadways and have other profound effects on society.

Tim Burrows is a retired Vice President of Forty Creek Distillery and a graduate of the University

of Toronto. He is an member of GHEVA (Golden Horseshoe Electric Vehicle Association), the

Southern Ontario Tesla Owners Club and the Electric Vehicle Society. Tim and his wife Lesley

This week there will be no meeting at Craigowan. Instead we will be serving chocolate milk for the Salvation army as people are waiting for the 2017 Holiday Train that comes through Woodstock. This is a great start of the Holiday season and a great family event.

Local food banks will be accepting donations at each stop to ensure those less fortunate can access adequate food this holiday season and year-round.

"The Holiday Train program is all about local food banks and food shelves and the critical role they play in our communities," said Keith Creel, CP's President and Chief Executive Officer. "People come for the beautifully-lit train and stay for the incredible show – all in the name of community.

The 2017 edition of the Holiday Train also concludes CP's Canada 150 celebrations and the Canadian train will feature the Spirit of Tomorrow car, which was part of the Canada 150 Train this past summer.

If you are interested in helping on November 29 please come out at 5.00 pm and ask for Naomi or Bonnie from the Salvation Army as they manage this event. We gather at Springbank Cheese at 201 Winniett Street in Woodstock. Please try to be recognizable as a Rotarian.

This weeks meeting our president Grace will show us this 2-DVD program that is designed to give local Rotary clubs insights and strategies for engaging the next generation of members. It is critical for clubs and Rotarians the world over to embrace the challenge of engaging the next generation of members. Everybody is welcome to come out and listen to this presentation.

The meeting starts at 6.15 pm at Graigowan Golf Club. Costs for a meal is $ 20.00

This week Tom Hemsworth will share with us his experiences while traveling through Africa. The Hemsworth family is very well known with this continent. Please feel welcome to come out and listen to Tom's experiences.

Meetings starts at 6.30 pm at Graigowan Golf Club just North of Woodstock on Highway 59. Costs for meal is $ 20.00

This week there is a change in our meeting location. We will have dinner at 6.15 pm at Swiss Chalet. Reservations are made under Paul Turner. After dinner we go to Indwell in the former Harvey Woods building for the business part of our meeting.

We will have our Annual meeting, Board elections and General Assembly. Everybody is welcome to come out. Please RSVP to Grace (drgrace@execulink.com).

This Wednesday our meeting will be at Grace and Doug's at 744797 County Road#17 in Woodstock. Please RSVP drgrace@execulink.com . This will be a potluck, and everyone is encouraged to come in a costume. It will be a fun night where part of the program is a classification talk show style. We will raffle members name to sit on the interview couch.

This week we will welcome our District Governor Kathi Dick as a speaker. Our Rotary club is part of District 7080 and every year every Club in the district is visited by the District Governor (one year term). This is always a special evening. District Governor Kathi will update us on Rotary International and District news and share some ideas on best practices for club success.

The meeting will start at 6.15 pm at Craigowan Golf Club on Highway 59 North of Woodstock. Cost for a meal is $ 20.00

This week our speaker is Dave Williams from the Mitchell Rotary Club. Every year for the past five years the Rotary Club of Mitchell visits 800-1,000 Grade 5 students in Huron and Perth counties to inform them they are the future.

It may be difficult for these students to believe, but they are the most impressionable and can learn and understand an anti-drug message – that the use of methamphetamines (or meth) is dangerous.

Dave will explain all the details of this project of what they do and what they try to achieve.

This meeting is open to the public. Meeting will be at Craigowan Country and Golf Club on Highway 59 just North of Woodstock. Meetings starts at 6.30 pm and costs for a meal is $ 20.00.

It designed to start a conversation that could lead to real change in how the Oxford County community deals with poverty and food insecurity.

A town hall meeting hosted by Operation Sharing on Tuesday, September 26 will feature keynote speaker Dr. Lynn McIntyre of the University of Calgary who will present key findings from her 30 years of research on how to reduce household food insecurity or inadequate access to food due to financial constraint.

Vanessa Giuliano, spokesperson for Operation Sharing, said the town hall meeting is designed to bring together not only experts in poverty reduction but also those accessing welfare assistance, low-income families, as well as their front line workers — to share their experiences.

“We welcome anyone with ideas about food insecurity and homelessness,” Giuliano said. “It’s a conversation to start the ball rolling — to talk about and put policies in place.”

The event will also feature poverty researcher Dr. Tracy Smith-Carrier from King’s University College, as well as Ken Brooks, a lawyer specializing in poverty law, Warden Paul Mayberry, Chris Cunningham of Southgate Centre and Oxford director human resources Paul Beaton.

The day after the town hall meeting a professional workshop with policy makers, including politicians and other representatives, is expected to lead to a declaration of intent.